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This list of Welsh saints includes Christian saints with Welsh connections, either because they were of Welsh origin and ethnicity or because they travelled to Wales from their own homeland and became noted in their hagiography for their work there.

The pagan Celts of Britain had already been extensively Christianized during the Roman period: although only four victims of Diocletian's persecution are now known (Saints Alban, "Amphibalus", and Julius and Aaron), Britons met the pagan Saxon invaders largely as Christians prior to being driven back to Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The family of Vortigern, which continued to hold Powys in the early medieval period, produced numerous saints. Although they largely refrained from missionizing among the Germans, Welsh refugees and missionaries were responsible for the Christianization of Ireland and Brittany.

The title of "saint" was used quite broadly in the Celtic churches. Extreme cases are Irish accounts of Gerald of Mayo's presiding over 3300 "saints" and Welsh claims that Bardsey held the remains of 20 000. More often, the title was given to the founder of any ecclesiastical settlement, which would thenceforth be known as their llan. Such communities were organized on tribal models: founding saints were almost invariably lesser members of local dynasties and their successors chosen from among their kin. The golden age of such establishments was the 6th century, when the "Three Saintly Families of Wales"—those of the invading Irish Brychan and Northerners Cunedda and Caw—displaced many of the local Silurian rulers in favor of their families and clans. By some estimates, these traditions produced over 800 pre-congregational saints venerated locally in Wales, but invasions by Saxons, Irishmen, Vikings, Normans, and others destroyed many ecclesiastical records. Similarly, the distance from Rome, suspicion of Celtic Christianity, and the relative disconnect of the local sees from Rome has left only two Welsh saints in the General Roman Calendar: Saints David (Dewi) and Winifred (Gwenffrewi).

List of saints

Other commemorations

• 29 May: The translation of Saint Dyfrig
• 6 June: Y Trisaint, the Three Saints
• 22 June: The decollation of Saint Winifred
• 26 June: The translation of Saint Brynach
• 1 or 2 July: Gwyl y Gwlaw
• 9 September: Gwyl y Ddelw Fyw, the Living Image
• 23 September: The ordination of Saint Padarn
• 21 October: Gwyl y Gweryddon, the Eleven Thousand Virgins
• 3 November: The translation of Saint Winifred
• 11 December: Dydd Ilas Llywelyn, the day on which Llywelyn was slain

See also

• Children of Brychan
• List of Breton saints
• List of Cornish saints
• List of Irish saints
• List of Anglo-Saxon saints
• List of Northumbrian saints

References

1. A small number may have had no Welsh connection in their lifetime but have nonetheless become associated with Wales through the depositing of their relics in Welsh religious houses during the Middle Ages.
2. Although note the etiological legend that Lichfield received its name from having been the site of a martyrdom of thousands under Diocletian.
3. Baring-Gould (1898), p. 41.
4. Baring-Gould (1898), p. 26.
5. Quoted translated from the Latin in Baring-Gould (1898), p. 39.
6. The Bollandists compiling the Acta Sanctorum were even driven to complain of the Irish "canonising dead men in troops whenever they seemed to be somewhat better than usual".
7. Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Lives of the Saints, Vol. XVI, "The Celtic Church and its Saints", pp. 30–40. Longmans, Green, & Co. (New York), 1898.
8. Rowan Williams, Reviews and comments on 'The Book of Welsh Saints'.
9. Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, pp. 103 ff.
10. ^ Baring-Gould, Sabine & al. The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain, Vol. I, pp. 101 ff. Chas. Clark (London), 1908. Hosted at Archive.org. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.
11. ^ The Church in Wales. "The Book of Common Prayer for Use in the Church in Wales: The New Calendar and the Collects". 2003. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.
12. ^ The Catholic Church in England and Wales. "Liturgy Office: February 2015". Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, 2014. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.
13. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 70.
14. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, pp. 116 ff.
15. Although note that Irish sources make him a son of Sedna, a chieftain of Connaught. Baring-Gould considered that the extraordinary span of events credited to "Saint Aeddan" best explained by supposing that Aeddan the grandson of Caw and companion of Saint David was a second figure from Aeddan, son of Sedna, and the two became confused as both were bishops of Ferns a generation apart.
16. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 75.
17. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 74.
18. Ford, David Nash. "The Holy Shrines of St. Albans in Hertfordshire". Britannica. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
19. Thurston, Herbert (1907). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. retrieved from "St Alban". New Advent. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
20. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 72.
21. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd edition, E. A. Livingstone, 2000, Oxford University Press, p. 40.
22. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 212.
23. Now dedicated to St Martin and probably originally simply a corruption of eglwys y fach, "church in the little ".
24. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 71.
25. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 73.
26. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, p. 73.
27. Baring-Gould, S.; Fisher, John (1907). Lives of the British Saints: Vol 1. Honorable Society of Cymrrodorion. p. 340.
28. Cornish Church Guide, p. 12. Blackford (Truro).
29. Sometimes celebrated as a movable feast on the Sunday closest to 16 May.
30. Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Lives of the British Saints, Vol. II. p. 135.
31. ^ Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. I, pp. 76.
32. Doble, G.H. Saints of Cornwall, Part 4: Newquay, Padstow, and Bodmin district, pp. 105-109. Dean & Chapter (Truro), 1965.
33. Cornish Church Guide, p. 10. Blackford (Truro).
34. Challoner, Richard. A Memorial of Ancient British Piety: or, a British Martyrology. W. Needham, 1761. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
35. Doble, G. H. (1965) Saints of Cornwall, Part 4: Newquay, Padstow and Bodmin district. Truro: Dean & Chapter; pp. 105-109
36. Charles, B.G. (1992). The Placenames of Pembrokeshire, Volume I. National Library of Wales. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-907158-58-5.
37. Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. III, p. 42.
38. Welsh chronicles
39. Doble, G. H. (1965) The Saints of Cornwall; Part 4: saints of the Newquay, Padstow and Bodmin district. Truro: Dean and Chapter; p. 50
40. Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 14
41. "Welcome To Newport Cathedral". Newport Cathederal. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
42. Baring-Gould (1908), Vol. III, p. 350.
43. Thurston, Herbert (1907). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. retrieved from "St. John Roberts". New Advent. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
44. ^ Thurston, Herbert (1907). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. retrieved from "St. John Lloyd". New Advent. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

External links

• Welsh Saints at Everything2
• List of Celtic Saints at Celtic Christianity
• List of early Welsh Churches at Celtic Christianity

• Lists of saints by place
• Wales religion-related lists
• Welsh saints
• Welsh history-related lists
• Lists of Welsh people